Flank Guard
The is a Tier 2 Tank and is one of the five upgrades that branches off of the Basic Tank. The Flank Guard can be selected once the player reaches level 15 and can upgrade into the Quad Tank, Tri-Angle, Twin Flank and Auto 3 at level 30. Design The Flank Guard features a circular base with a rectangular Cannon on the front and an additional shorter rectangular Cannon on the back, with no debuffs according to size. Technical It adds a Cannon in the back allowing it to attack enemies while fleeing. The Cannon in the back has the same strength as the front one. Additionally, it adds a recoil that is opposite and equal to the front one, resulting in the recoil canceling each other. Strategies *Strong Against: Low level tanks, Slow tanks *Weak Against: Fast tanks, High RoF tanks. As the Flank Guard As this tank is similar to the Regular Tank, but with a back cannon, it is generally not a good idea to go against other tanks that are at the same Level as you or higher Level than you (Although the Sniper Class can be picked on). Instead, continue farming up Levels, and upgrade to a tank of your choosing. The back cannon can be used in some situations to return fire while fleeing, or just to damage the incoming projectiles to reduce the damage you take. The Flank Guard’s back cannon can reduce the recoil from moving and firing at the same time, resulting in a marginal speed increase while firing on the move. A strategy for this tank is to approach an area with a lot of Polygons. Dive in head first, then turn the cannon 90 degrees clockwise/counterclockwise. Both Cannons will fire at the Polygons, giving you a lot of EXP within a short duration. However, if one is planning on doing this for most of the game, then the Twin would be a better option. The Flank Guard can be used at the Pentagon Nest due to the fact that the back cannon can be used to keep the Crashers at bay while farming pentagons. However, they could still pose a threat if they approach you from the side. If you have increased Bullet Damage, Reload and Bullet Penetration, the Bullets would be very strong, enabling you to fight Tier 1 tanks with ease. Against the Flank Guard The Flank Guard's low reload rate means it will struggle against tanks with a higher RoF such as the Twin. Since it only has one cannon to defend itself from frontal attacks, It can be easily overwhelmed by a wave of bullets. If the Flank Guard is using a bullet build, then try to approach it from the side. Ironically, flanking the Flank Guard is a valid strategy if it is approached from the side. Using a rammer build also works as long as you don't get in the way of fire. If the Flank Guard is using a body damage build, shoot at the place ahead of the tank. They will either go back/change direction, or they will run into your bullets and take damage. If a body damage Flank Guard charges at the player, then move backwards while shooting at the tank. Its low bullet stats will ensure that you will get some hits off of the Flank Guard. Achievements *Ain’t no one sneaking up on ME — Upgrade to Flank Guard. History * Currently, both Cannons will fire at the same time; however, this has not always been the case: very early on the Flank Guard’s Cannons fired one at a time with even timing in between shots. This was changed as very skilled players or people simply using spinbots could rotate the tank in a way that caused all the Bullets to go in the same direction, making the tank unintentionally powerful, essentially making it equal to the Twin. * With the initial release of achievements on February 21st, 2017, upgrading to the Flank Guard for the first time awards the player the achievement “Ain't no one sneaking up on ME”. Trivia *The Flank Guard has the least amount of distinct Tier 4 tanks that only it can upgrade to out of all of the Tier 2 tanks, this number being 2, those two being Booster and Fighter. All other Tier 4 tanks that it can upgrade to are upgradable from other Tier 2 tanks, one of them being upgradable from the Machine Gun, and the rest being upgradable from the Twin. *Even though the Flank Guard's front cannon is longer than its rear cannon, both have an equal amount of damage, reload, penetration, and recoil. *It is the lowest-leveled tank without recoil. Other tanks without recoil are the Twin Flank and Quad Tank, Octo Tank, and the three types of Dominators. Gallery Diep.io flank cannon.png|The Flank Guard in FFA zh:Flank Guard es:Flank Guard fr:Flank Guard pl:Flank Guard ru:Flank Guard vi:Flank Guard tr:Flank Guard sv:Flank Guard de:Flank Guard pt-br:Flank Guard ko:플랭크 가드 Category:Tanks Category:Diep.io Category:Tier 2 Tanks Category:Old Classes Category:Checked Category:Player Tanks